Drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper.



W. A. SPURRIBR.

DRYING APPARATUS PoR PRINTED SHEETS oP PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.18, 1911.

Patented Aug. 27, 1912.

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W. A, SPURRIER.

DEYING AEPEEATUS EOE PEINTED SHEETS 0E PAPER. AEPLIGATIQN FILED00T.18,1911. 1,037,075, Patented Aug. 27, 1912.

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WILLIAM AfsrURRIER, or NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.'

DRYING APPARATUS FOR PRINTED SHEETS 0F PAPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2"?, 1912.

Application filled October 18, 1911. Serial No. 655,369.

and useful Improvements in Drying Appa-l ratus for Printed Sheets VofPaper, of which the following is a specieation.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for facilitating thedrying of freshly printed sheets of paper.

It is well known to those skilled in the art that the time requiredtoactually dry the average printing ink is .from siX to twelve hours,but. that if properly exposed yto the air said sheets may be dried in'amuch shorter time sufficiently' to allow the placing, of the same,oneupon the other without the ink thereon osetting.

v The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which isadapted to receive the printed sheets of paper direct` from the printinginstrurnentalities and hold said sheets in a substantially horizontal.plane while conveying them slowly into and through a heated chamber'where 'they are retained a sufficient length of time to permit the inkthereon to set or to dry, after which they are placed upon the deliverytable of the press Without disturbing t-he sequence of printing. I

The object is still further to provide an apparatus for drying printedsheets of paper which is so constructed that it may be placed above thedelivery table of a printing press structually` independent therefromand occupying but very little more floor space than is occupied by theordinary delivery mechanism of said printing press, and furthermore,said apparatus may be moved from one press and used on another presswithout material change in the parts.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims thereof, but is notintended to be liniitedto the particularconstruction of elements hereinafter described as it might be embodiedin other forms and devices differing from those hereinafter described bysuch variations' therefromas would necessitate merely the exercise oflneehanical skill. n

Like numerals refer to like parts in both views/of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings: VFigure 1 is a longitudinal sectionalelevation of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 1s a sectionalplan view of the same taken on the irregular line 2-2 of F ig. l.

In the drawings, 5 is a portion of the frame of a printing press uponwhich a delivery table or sheet receiver 6 is placed. A paper carrier 7consisting of endless belts 8, 8l isA also mounted upon said frame 5 andis adapted to receive sheets of paper directfrom the printinginstrumenta-lities9.

Located above and adjacent to the `delivery table 6 and carrier 7 is apaper conveying device 10 mounted upon frames 11, 11 structurallyindependent from said printing press and` embodying in its constructionracks 12, 12 arranged in tiers 13 and 14. The racks 12 are provided ateach end thereof with frames 15, 15 each of said frames adapted toengage and support another' frame o-f like construction. The frames 1.5,15 are connected together by a shaft 16 upon which`- are mounted aseries of brackets 17, 17 having secured thereto sticks 18, 18 uponwhich the sheets of paper are held, suflicient space being providedbetween the sticks of one of said racks and the brackets of the adjacentrack to allow lthe sheets of paper 31to rest upon said sticks withoutcontacting with said brackets.

Grooves 19 and 20 are provided in each of the side frames 11, l1 thusconstituting guides adjacent to the end frames 15, 15 of the tier ofracks 13. Projections 2 1, 21 extend laterally from each of the frames15 and project into the grooves 19, while the shaft 16 projects lthroughthe frame 15 forming the projections 22, 22 which engage the other ofsaid grooves 20, 2.0, said projections 21 and 22 serving to guide saidracks'upwardly in a substantially horizontal position. Detents 23, 23pivoted to the side frames 11, 11 engage the lowermost rack in said tierof racks, thereby supporting said tier and retaining the same withinsaid` grooves. Grooves 24 and 25 in the side frames 11, 'l1 alsoconstituting guides, are provided adjacent to the frames 15, 15 of thetier'ofrracks 14. The grooves 24 are engaged by the projections 21 ofsaid racks and the grooves 25 are engaged by the pro# jeetions 22, saidgrooves 24 and 25 serving to guide the racks downwardly or laterallyrelative to the sheets of `paper carried thereby and toward the deliverytabley 6. The grooves 24 and 25 terminate at their lower ends insemi-circular grooves 26 and 27 which check the downward movement of 5said racks. A groove 28 connects the upper ends of the grooves 19 and 20with the upper ends of the grooves 24 and 25 andv a groove 29 connectsthe lowerends of the semi-circular grooves 26 and 27 with a recess 30 towhich the lower ends of the grooves 19 and 20' are connected.'Anelevator 32 is pivotally mounted within the recesses 30, 30 uponlinks 33, l33 at each end of said .elevator and adapted 'to guide saidelevator horizontally across a gap 72 between the end of the groove 29and the lower end of the grooves 19 and 20, said gap being provided forthe purpose of allowing more space in which to feed the sheets of paperonto said racks. A suitable mechanism is provided, as hereinafterdescribed, to circulate the racks 13 upwardly 4along the grooves 21 and22, thence horizontally along the groove' 28, which is substantiallyparallel with the sheets of paper carried by said racks, thencedownwardly along the grooves -24 and 25, grooves 26 and27, andhorizontal groove 29 to the elevator 32, and from thence upwardly intosaid grooves 19 and 20.

To prevent the projections H21 from dropping into the grooves 20 whilethe racks 13 are being moved along the groove 28,

switches 36 are pivoted at 37 to the side- Mframes 11`and swing upwardlyallowing the wardly and out lof the grooves 20, but immediatcly droppingback into place in time to bridge said grooves to guide said projections21, 21 thereacross. To prevent the projections 22, 22 Ifrom droppinginto the grooves 24', said projections are extended bef yond theprojections 21, thus requiring the grooves 20, 28, 25, 27 and 29 to becut deeper than the grooves 19 and 24-and causing a ledge 38 to beformed at the upper end-0f the groove 24, said ledge guiding saidprojections 22 past the entrance of said grooves.- I preferably employ.acoperative actuatingv mechanism to circulate said racks along thehereinbefo're" described grooves, said, mechanism embodying in itsconstructiony a shaft 39 to which a rotary motion is imparted by anysuitable means capable of im- 'parting thereto a speed which shallcirculate said racks and present the same one at a time to thedelivering means ofr the device from which the sheets of material aretobereceived synchrondusly with the delivery of said sheets ofjmaterialwhich are also fed one at a time to said' delivering means. Sprockets40,40 secured -on said shafts are connected through chains 41, 41 tosprockets 42, 42 rotatably mounted upon studs-43, 43

- secured in the said frames 11, 11. y A sprocket 44 -is secured' to oneof the sprockets 42 and 1s connected by a chain 45 to a sprocket 46rotatably mounted upon a stud 47. A gear 48 is mounted tol rotate inunison with the sprocket 46 upon the stud 47 and engages another gear 49which, with a sprocket 50, is secured upon a shaft 51 journaled torotate in said frame. Said sprocket 50 is connected bya chain 52 to asprocket 53 on the shaft 54, said shaft being journaled to rotate insaid frame. been guided along the grooves 29, 29 to the elevator 32 andinto the position against a stop 3 2, is arranged to receive a sheet ofpaper 31 which is fed from theprinting instrumentalities 9 by theendless belts 8,18 of the carrier 7 and along the sticks 18 of saidracks, to the stops 64, 64 mounted upon the rod 65.

A rocking movement is imparted to the elevator 32 by the camlevers 34engaging A yrack 55 having previously i studs 56, 56 at eachend,respectively, of said which are rotated upon the studs 61, 61 by gears62 secured to said cams, respectively, and which, in turn, are rotatedby pinions 63, 63, respectively, fast to the shaft 39.

As the tier of racks 13 is moved upwardly or laterally relatively to thesheets of paper carried thereby, the' projections 22, 22 upon the upperrack are moved into the path of pins 66, 66 b y" which said rack istransferred from the tier 13 along the grooves 28 to the tier 14,-whilethe lowermost rack in the tier 14 is engaged by pins 67, 67 which movesaid rack along the grooves 26 and 27' and into and through the groove29 to the elevator 32 and against the stop 32", and while passing alongsaid grooves 29 the papel; thereon is transferred therefrom to the table6 by lingers 68, 68 secured upon a rod 69, said frames 11, 11 andin'closes the top and sides y of said paper conveying'y device andheating devices 71, 71 are provided which heat the air within saidchamber through which said sheets of paper are conveyed. v

The general operation' -of the devlce 1s as follows: The sheets of paperare fed from the impression cylinder 73 of the printinglinstrumentalities by the endless belts, 8, 8

into `the gap 72 ,against the stops 64 and upon the rack 55, while saidrack rests upon the elevator 32. As the cams`60 are rotated, the levers34 are rocked upon their pivots 35, 35 to'move the elevator upwardly,thus transferring the rack 55 from its position shown in Fig. 1 to theposition .occupied by the lowermost rack74 in the tier of racks 13, inwhich postion it is heldby the detents 23, 23. As the rack 55 enters thegrooves 19 and 20, the tier of racks therein are moved upwardlv thespace occupied by one rack, and the uppermost rack 75 in said tier ofracks is carried into engagement with the pins 66 upon the chain 5 2,whereby said rack is transferred from the tier 13 v alon groove 28 tothe top of the tier 14. Simultaneously with the novement of the rack75.l the lowermost rack in the tier of racks 14 is transferred from saidlowermost position by pins 67, 67 upon the chains 41 through the grooves26 and 27 into the grooves 29 and along said grooves to the stops 68, 68which check the movement ofjthe sheet thereon and thereby transfers thesheet from said rack to the delivery table 6. Said rack is then movedalong said grooves 29 to 4the elevator 32 and into position to receiveanother sheet of paper, and so 0.11,l circulating intermittently upwardinto the heated chamber inthe casing 7()l and being retained therein asufficient length of time to allow the heat to permeate said sheets anddry the ink thereon. The rack is then moved downwardly to deliver thesheet to the delivery table in its proper sequence, and is then movedback to the receiving position.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire by LettersPatent to secure is:

1. A drying apparatus for printed sheetsJ of paper having, incombination, a rack adapted to hold a sheet ofvpaper, mechanism capableof moving said rack in a direction laterally ofthe plane of the sheet ofpaper f carried thereby, and mechanism adapted to move said racksubstantially in the plane of said sheeftof paper.

f 2. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, 'aV rack adapted to hold a sheet of paper, mechanismcapable of moving said rack in a direction laterally of theplane ofthesheet of paper carried thereby, mechanism adapted to move said racksubstantially in the plane of said sheet of paper and means toautomatically remove the sheet of paper from said rack.

8. A dryingapparatus forprinted sheets of paper hav1ng, in combination,a rack adapted to hold a sheet of paper in a substantially horizontalposition, mechanism capable of moving said rack in a direction laterallyof the plane -of the' sheet of paper carried thereby, mechanism adaptedto move said rack substantially in the plane of said sheet of paper andmeansto remove .the

lsheet of paper from said rack.

' table, a' carrier, a led to receive a-sheet of paper from said carthe, ble of moving tuating means 4. A drying apparatus for printed sheets lof paper having, 1n combination, a delivery series 4of racks eachada-ptrier, mechanism capable of moving each of Said racks in adirection laterally of the plane of the sheet of paper carried thereby,mechanism for moving said racks substantiallyin the plane of said sheetsof paper, and means to transfersaid sheets of paper from said racks tosaid delivery table.

5. A drying apparatus :for printed sheets of paper having, inlcombination,- a casing, means for heating the air in said casing, a

' series of rackseach adapted to hold a sheet of paper, coperativeactuating means capasaid racks in said casing in a direction laterallyofthe plane of the sheets of paper carried by said racks,'and intheplane of said sheets of paper, and means to remove the sheet from eachof said racks.

6. 4A drying `apparatus for printed sheets ot paper having, incombination, a delivery table, a paper conveying device mounted aboveand adjacent to said delivery table and embodying in its construction aseries of racks, each adaptedto receive and hold a sheet of paper at anangle less than 45 degrees to a,hor1zontal plane, coperative actuatingmeans capable of moving said racks in a direction laterally of andsubstantially in the plane of the sheets of paper carried thereby andmeans to automatically transfer the sheetsof paper from said rackssuccessively to said delivery table.l

7. A drying apparatus fpr printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a delivery table, a paper conveying ydevice mounted aboveand adjacent to said delivery table, but structurally independenttherefrom, and embodying in its construction a series of racks, eachadapted to receivev and hold a sheet'o pa er at anangle less than 45deorizontal plane,` coperative accapable of moving said rackslaterallygofband substantially parallel with the sheets of paper carriedthereby vand means to transfer the sheets of paper from said racks tosaid delivery table.

8. A drying apparatus -for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a series of racks arranged in two tiers, yeach of saidracks adapted to hold a sheet of paper, cooperative actuating meansadapted to transfer saidracks one at a time .from one to the grees to aother of said tiers, and means for removing the sheets of paper fromsaid racks.

9. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a series of racks arranged racksv adapted to hold a sheetof paper cooperative actuating means adapted to trans fer said racks,one ata time from the top of one of said tiers to the top of the otherof said tiers and from the bottom of said in two tiers,-each ,of saidiso i last mentioned tier ,to the bottom of said first mentioned tierand means for removing the sheets of paper from said racks.

10. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a delivery table, a carrier, a plurality of racks eachadapted to hold a vsheet of paper, said racks being arranged in twotiers with one of said tiers adjacent to said carrier, and the other ofsaid tiers adjacent tosaid delivery table, means to guide the firstmentioned tier of racks away from' said carrier, means to guide thesecond mentioned tier of racks toward said delivery table, mechanismadapted to transfer a rack from one end of the first mentioned tier ofracks to one end of the second mentioned tier of racks, mechanismadapted to transfer a rack from the opposite end of said secondmentioned tier to the opposite end of said first mentioned tier, andmeans to transfer said sheets of paper from said racks to said deliverytable.

11. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having,incombination, a carrier for sheets of paper, a plurality .of racksarranged in two tiers each of said racks adapted to hold a sheet ofpaper, mechanism adapted to transfer said racks one at a time from theend of one of said t-iers to the end of the other of said tiers,mechanism for moving a rack from the opposite end of said secondmentionedI tier into a position to receive a sheet of paper from saidcarrier, means to removev a sheet `of paper' from each of said racksrespectively during said movement and mechanism adapted to move saidrack from said receiving position to the receiving end of the firstmentioned tier of racks.

12. A drving apparatus-.for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a carrier for sheets of paper, a plurality of racksvarianged in twoy upwardly extending tiers, guides for each rof saidtiers, mechanism f adapted to transfer said racks one at' a time fromthe upper end of one to the upper end of the other of said tiers,mechanism for ymoving' one ofvsaid racks ata time' from the lower end ofthe second mentioned tier of racks into a position to receive a sheet ofpaper for fsaid'. carrier, means to 7remove a sheet of paper from saidrack during said movement, an elevator and means to actuate saidelevator to transfer said rack from said receiving posit-ion to theposition occupied by the lowermost rack in the first mentioned tier ofrackg whereby the racks in said tier are advanced along said guides. v

' 13. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombinatioma carrier for sheets of paper, a plurality of racks arrangedin two upwardly extending tiers, guides for each of said tiers,mechanism adapted to transfer said racks one at a time from the upperend of one to the upper end of the other of said tiers, mechanism formoving one ofsaid racks at a time from the lower end of the secon@mentioned tier of racks into a position to receive a sheet of paper fromsaid carrier, means to automatif cally .remove a sheet of paper fromsaid rack during said movement, an elevator, means to actuate saidelevator to transfer said rack from said receiving position to the 7.5position occupied by the lowermost rack in the. first mentioned tier ofracks whereby the racks in aid tier are advanced along said guides andmeans to retain said lowermost rack in position at the bottom of saidtier of racks.

1 4. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a plurality of racks each adapted to hold a sheet of paper,said racks being arranged in upwardly extending tiers, guides adjacentto the opposite ends of said racks adapted to guide the racks in one ofsaid tiers upwardly and in the other of said tiers downwardly and retainthe sheets on each of said racks in a substantially horizontal plane,guides connecting the upper ends and lower ends respectively of theupwardly extending guides of each of said tiers and substantiallyparallel to the sheets of paper carried by sald racks, and cooperativeactuating means adapted to advance said racks along said guides. r

15. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a plurality of racks each adapted to hold a sheet ofpaper,V said racks being arranged in upwardly extending tiers,vertically disposed1 guides adjacent to the opposite ends of said racksadapted to guide the. racks in one of said tiers upwardly and in theother ofV said tiers downwardly and retain the sheets on each of saidracks ina substantially horizontal plane, guides connecting the upperends and lower ends respectively of the upwardly extending lguides ofeach ofl said tiers and substantially parallel to the sheets of papercarried by said racks, and coperative actuating means adapted tointermittently advance said racks along said guides.

16. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination; a casing, means for heating the air in said caslng, a

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.rack adapted to hold a sheet of paper, mech'- anism capable of movingsaid rack in said casing in a direction laterally of the plane of theFsheet of paper carried by said rack,

.anti mechanism adapted to move said rack in said casing in the plane ofsaid sheet of paper.

17. A drying apparatus for printed sheets of paper having, incombination, a plurality of racks each adapted to hold a sheet of paper,said racks being arrangedJ in upmoved along said guides, and mechanismto wardly extending'tiers, a plurality of upwardly extending guidesadjacent. to the opposite ends ofl the racks formn said tiers, guidesconnectin the upper en s and lower ends, respective y, of said upwardlyextending guides, means adapted tocoperate with said guides to retainthe paper carried by said racks in a Substantially hori- 10 zontalposit-ion while said racks are being move said racks along fsald guides.

In testimony whereof I` have hereunto set my hand in presence of two'subscribing witnesses. q

WILLIAM A. SPURRIER.'

Witnesses I CHARLES S.v GooDniG, SYDNEY E. TAFT.`

